Williams latest figures show solid growth as team looks to turn season fortunes around

Williams chairman Adam Parr has hailed his company’s latest set of financial
figures as “solid” and says its recently-announced partnership with Jaguar
Land Rover is proof that it is developing along the right lines.

Looking brighter: Williams have annuonce impressive profits for 2010 and now hopes their good fortune will continue on the tracksPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

Parr added that he fully expects the race team to turn around their on-track performance this year.

Pre-tax profits for the year ending Dec 31 2010 were up 28 per cent to £5.8 million, even allowing for a £1.9 million investment in Williams Hybrid Power (WHP) and the Williams Technology Centre Qatar (WTCQ). That is despite a reduced turnover of £91 million, down from £108.3 million.

“They are a good set of results,” Parr told Telegraph Sport, declining to comment on whether he anticipated further profits in 2011 as well. “They show solid progress and they represent another little building block in the progress we are trying to make as a team and as a company.

“We’re not making any statement about 2011 at this point. It is true to say that our financial health will be in part determined by our on-track performance and we do need to get on top of it.”

Williams have suffered one of their worst starts in the team’s 33-year history, with Parr even offering to resign in the wake of the Chinese Grand Prix last month. His offer was refused by the board, although the team have embarked upon a radical restructuring of their technical department.

Technical director Sam Michael and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson will go at the end of the year with Mike Coughlan – the former McLaren engineer at the centre of the 2007 ‘Spygate’ scandal – coming in instead.

Despite the offer to resign, Parr argues that he has complete faith in the company’s set-up going forwards, with Williams Grand Prix Holdings Plc having floated 24 per cent of its existing ordinary shares in March.

“After the very poor start to the season, which took us by surprise, I obviously questioned whether we did have the right leadership in place,” Parr said. “And as chairman of the company I had overall responsibility. So I offered the shareholders the opportunity to replace me if that was what they wanted to do.

“It was a very brief discussion and they assured me that wasn’t what they wanted. So then we set about asking how we wanted to refresh our technical leadership.”

Parr is adamant that Williams are well capable of turning around the on-track performance in 2011.

“Both Sam and Jon have resigned but they are staying until the end of the year and they are working flat out to turn this car around,” he said. “They, and I for that matter, believe that we have a car that can be competitive. And it is just a case of bringing forward the right developments in the next few weeks and months to make that happen. We did it last year and we will do it this year."

Asked whether the team would be putting resources into developing this year’s car, rather than diverting it to next year’s when Coughlan’s presence will be felt, Parr said: “That is relatively easy because there is very little by way of rule change between 2011 and 2012. The fundamental architecture of the car is very competitive.”

The company’s partnership with Jaguar Land Rover, which will see them jointly build the £700,000C-X75 concept car as an exclusive hybrid supercar, was hailed as proof that Williams are on the right track.

The company’s share price had dropped from 24 euros per share to 17 euros per share in a matter of weeks but has rallied in the wake of the deal to just under 20 euros.

“You never want to see your share price falling because my responsibility is to create wealth for our shareholders,” Parr said.

“But I don’t watch the share price every day because my job is to make sure we have the right strategy for the future and the right resources and people to deliver that strategy. And on that point it seems like the announcement we made last Friday – our partnership with Jaguar – has been hugely significant.

“The strategy we set out in the IPO was of building the business and the team – and I specifically set out my goal of bringing partnerships with leading OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers].

“The Jaguar partnership is fundamental to that. To be able to deliver such a great partnership despite some difficult times, I think, is a very powerful message about the state of the team."

Parr said he would be meeting with representatives of the Dutch investment fund Cyrte, who bought five per cent of the company when it floated, at Williams’ Grove headquarters later this week.